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Easy and Authentic

Who do you do what you do for? Do you serve your family, your self, an employer or some other entity? They why behind our what matters as to our enjoyment and fulfillment. The lines can get blurry and a reminder can be helpful.

I got a reminder recently. I was pursuing God in time set aside to read and pray. I had a thought and the way I almost immediately framed that thought as a blog in my mind. Right away, this apparently pure thought between God and I was put into a form that I could communicate to others. I wasn’t really seeking God for Him or me, but for others. I have to; it’s what I do for a living.

The problem is that the minute I converted the breath of God in the thought to a sermon illustration or blog, there was no life in it for me any longer. It was just a work tool. It was a job.

I repented and enjoyed the connection with my Father. As much as I appreciate the opportunity to minister in His name, the ministry is His, not mine. My ministry is to love Him and love people. His ministry is to save them, heal them, deliver them, etc.

I was looking at Ephesians 1 recently and looked into the idea of being “marked in Him with a seal.” The definition of the word “seal” includes the idea of proving someone’s testimony to a person that he is who he attests to be. The “seal” of Christ is the Holy Spirit, whose responsibilities include proving to someone the authenticity of things attested to. My job is to love Him and love people; His job is to convince them of things about Him and them.

I have nothing that He will attest to from a place of production. I have only the authentic connection of relationship as a conduit for truth. In other words, without being connected to Him for Him then I am doing things that are He won’t speak to others about. I can talk or write all I want, but unless He seals it with His attestation, nothing in others will change and none of it will matter.

It’s easy to slide into a place of burden for ministry’s sake. It will ultimately produce nothing more than some form of burn out. The life and the fire are in the authentic connection. That authentic connection is what He will use to stir others; not my ability to come up with ways to say it.